---
title: Agents
sidebarTitle: Overview
description: Learn about Agno Agents and how they work.
mode: wide
---

**Agents are AI programs where a language model controls the flow of execution.**

The core of an Agent is a model using tools in a loop, guided by instructions:

- **Model:** controls the flow of execution. It decides whether to reason, act or respond.
- **Instructions:** program the Agent, teaching it how to use tools and respond.
- **Tools:** enable an Agent to take actions and interact with external systems.

Agents also have memory, knowledge, storage and the ability to reason:

- **Memory:** gives Agents the ability to store and recall information from previous interactions, allowing them to learn and improve their responses.
- **Storage:** is used by Agents to save session history and state in a database. Model APIs are stateless and storage makes Agents stateful, enabling multi-turn conversations.
- **Knowledge:** is domain-specific information the Agent can **search at runtime** to provide better responses (RAG). Knowledge is stored in a vector database and this search at runtime pattern is known as **Agentic RAG** or **Agentic Search**.
- **Reasoning:** enables Agents to "think" before responding and "analyze" the results of their actions before responding, this improves reliability and quality of responses.

<Tip>

If this is your first time using Agno, [start here](/introduction/quickstart) before diving into advanced concepts.

</Tip>

## Guides

Learn how to build, run and manage your Agents using the following guides.

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card
    title="Building Agents"
    icon="wrench"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/building-agents"
  >
    Learn how to run your agents.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Running Agents"
    icon="user-robot"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/running-agents"
  >
    Learn how to run your agents.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Debugging Agents"
    icon="bug"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/debugging-agents"
  >
    Learn how to debug and troubleshoot your agents.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Agent Sessions"
    icon="comments"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/sessions"
  >
    Learn about agent sessions.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Input & Output"
    icon="fire"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/input-output"
  >
    Learn about input and output for agents.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Context Engineering"
    icon="file-lines"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/context"
  >
    Learn about context engineering.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Dependencies"
    icon="brackets-curly"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/dependencies"
  >
    Learn about dependency injection in your agent's context.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Agent State"
    icon="crystal-ball"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/state"
  >
    Learn about managing agent state.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Agent Storage"
    icon="database"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/storage"
  >
    Learn about session storage.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Memory"
    icon="head-side-brain"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/memory"
  >
    Learn about adding memory to your agents.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Knowledge"
    icon="books"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/knowledge"
  >
    Learn about knowledge in agents.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Tools"
    icon="wrench"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/tools"
  >
    Learn about adding tools to your agents.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Agent Metrics"
    icon="chart-line"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/metrics"
  >
    Learn how to track agent metrics.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Pre-hooks & Post-hooks"
    icon="link"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/pre-hooks-and-post-hooks"
  >
    Learn about pre-hooks and post-hooks for agents.
  </Card>
  <Card
    title="Guardrails"
    icon="shield-check"
    iconType="duotone"
    href="/concepts/agents/guardrails/overview"
  >
    Learn about implementing guardrails for your agents.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Developer Resources

- View the [Agent schema](/reference/agents/agent)
- View [Cookbook](https://github.com/agno-agi/agno/tree/main/cookbook/agents/README.md)
